14th Charlie Parker novel doesn't disappoint

From the publisher:

Dangerous and driven private investigator Charlie Parker returns in the latest gripping thriller of internationally bestselling author John Connolly’s series, in which ungodly fears haunt a strange and isolated community.

Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings, and in doing so destroyed himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized.

But in his final days, with the hunters circling, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death, but was saved; of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade.

Parker is not like other men. He died, and was reborn. He is ready to wage war.

Now he will descend upon a strange, isolated community called the Cut, and face down a force of men who rule by terror, intimidation, and murder.

All in the name of the being they serve. All in the name of the Dead King.

5 Stars

I feel like I have to disclose that the Charlie Parker series is my favorite series of all time. In any genre. Perhaps because it doesn't fit neatly into any one genre. It's gritty crime novels with supernatural elements and a mystery that spans across the entire series.  Connolly's writing is elegant and powerful. His ability to keep the story exciting, to keep me wanting more, is amazing at this point in the series. Fourteen books! 

The previous book in the series, A Song of Shadows, built slowly. This one does not. I was immediately pulled into the story and read the entire novel in two sittings. I wish I had started in the morning and read it in one. I can't give a better description than the one on the book jacket. I will add that some of my favorite bad guys are present, and the newest bad guy may be the baddest yet. 

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.





 

Outstanding Debut Psychological Thriller from Germany

5 of 5 stars

Prominent German screenwriter Sascha Arango's debut novel The Truth and Other Lies is a fantastic psychological thriller in every sense of the word.  Henry Hayden is a liar, a womanizer,  and a con man. He's also a very successful author, publishing his wife's work under his own name.

Her unfortunate death couldn't occur at a worse time for Henry. His mistress is pregnant. His publisher is in financial trouble and anxiously awaiting his now incomplete novel. He's being pursued by a figure from his past. And the inexorable Detective Jenssen has been assigned to investigate his wife's death.

Henry's rich inner dialogue as he attempts to keep the pieces of his deliberately constructed life together is masterful.  He is heartbroken and pitiful, and totally despicable. The truths, half-truths, and outright lies are woven together seamlessly. Every turn of the page could reveal Henry's end.

A genuine 5 star read.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eeny Meeny is a serial killer novel, but not an ordinary one. The killer is kidnapping pairs of people and one must kill the other in order to be released.  It reminds me of the Saw movies. How far will you go to survive? Will you kill?  Are surviving and living the same thing? 

The killer is playing a game with the police, a game that's twisted, dark, and smart. DI Helen Grace is smart and dark, too - but that isn't helping the victims. A strong, well-respected team leader, juggling an increasingly horrific case and problems within her team, Helen has to face her own issues if she wants to come out of this alive and on top. 

Character development, pacing, action, creativity of plot - everything was there and top-notch. Why can't I give this 5 stars? Because the structure of the novel was at time a barrier I struggled to cross. I don't  mind multiple POVs in a novel. I do mind when the POV switches mid-paragraph.  Or the POV changes in the middle of a scene, then after a short paragraph switches back to the original POV/scene. This happened throughout the novel. It was intrusive enough, and at times so difficult to decipher, that if not for the great plot I would have given up less than 10% into the book. 

I strongly suggest re-editing this book, as it takes a strong 4.5 star book down to a weak 3. I suspect no small number of readers would give up on this book early in  due to the structural and formatting issues. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Berkley NAL/Signet Romance, DAW for the opportunity to read this book for free inexchange for an honest review.

5 Stars for The Girl at Midnight

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of The Girl at Midnight about six weeks ago, and it's definitely one of my favorite YA Fantasy novels of the year. It's due out April 28. I suggest pre-ordering!

From Goodreads:

For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

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I can't comment on the similarities between  The Girl at Midnight and City of Bones because I haven't read it. (I know, I know, I'm probably the only one that hasn't read it yet). Of course there are similarities with Shadow and Bone as well as with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and probably many other YA fantasies with female protagonists. It's a ubiquitous plot in adult fantasy as well. A human girl or woman is uniquely placed to become part of the hidden magical world, destined to become the crux of a war/battle/disagreement between factions of magical creatures. The difference is in the details. I don't think that's a bad thing. I make at least 10 dishes that all start out with a roux, onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. The magic is in what goes in next.

The Girl at Midnight stands out because Echo is a girl, and she acts exactly like a teenager that's in over her head would act. She has doubts, fears, and struggles. She's nothing like Karou of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, who is unlike any 17 year old I've ever known. I also find the cast of secondary characters compelling. Although it starts out as a very Echo-centered novel, I was just as interested in the entire group by the end. I expect (hope) that in the next book the secondary characters will all be primary ones.

I look forward to reading this book again, as I surely will just before the second book comes out!

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Debut novel from Brendan Duffy is Beautiful and Unsettling.

April 14 New Release

I may as well confess. I love being scared. It's exhilarating. But not a lot scares me. I have to believe it could happen to me. That the horror is real. In House of Echoes,  Brendan Duffy has written my kind of story. 

Ben Tierney travels to upstate New York to settle his grandmother's estate. While he was out viewing the ramshackle home, he spots The Crofts- a grand home settled in between two mountains on a thousand acres overlooking the town of Swannhaven. And it's for sale. 

Ben immediately thinks of the possibilities.  The place could be a magnificent inn. He can work on his stalled novel, maybe get some ideas from the area. Claudia can focus on renovations instead of  her failed bank and struggles with Bipolar Disorder.  Charlie will have a safe place to play, an important thing for the bullied eight year old. It's a great plan. But The Crofts and Swannhaven are much more than they appear.

 As Ben uncovers the tragic history of the town, he scraps his unfinished novel and starts a new one. The story of the Swanns, the founding family of Swannhaven. There's a big story there, but one piece of it eludes him and he's getting the feeling that it's not only important to his novel, but to his family. Ben Teirney is descended from one of The Winter Families, which is a very big deal in Swannhaven. What it means to him and his family, Ben doesn't know.

The setting of the story may be the best character in the book. Duffy slowly but surely builds a perfect picture of impending doom. The partially renovated grand estate, a mysterious presence in the deep woods,fires, a nor'easter that dumps two feet of snow and closes the road to The Crofts. Nothing missing, nothing extra, just right.

This novel has the usual Gothic setting and themes, but the naive and beautiful young girl lured into a dangerous liaison with evil has been replaced by - I shouldn't say. Spoilers, you know. 

I give Duffy's debut novel 5 stars, for a beautifully written horror/suspense novel that  impressed me with its plausibility. By the end, I had forgotten the Tierney's weren't real people. I was afraid for them, afraid of Swannhaven. At the end of the novel, I thought back to it's first lines:

            "It is over now, sister, but for how long?"


I wonder that, too.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Inside the O'Briens - New Release from Lisa Genova

Lisa Genova's new novel tackles Huntington's Disease (HD), a hereditary neurodegenerative disease that is 100% fatal. Physical symptoms usually begin in the mid-30s to mid-40s, but personality changes and cognitive problems occur before any of the physical signs are present. My first patient in my second year nursing clinicals was a woman in the end stages of Huntington's, and it is still one of the most harrowing experiences of my career.

The O'Briens are an Irish Catholic family living in Charlestown, Boston. Joe , Rose, and their four adult children live in the same house Joe grew up in. Joe's a Boston cop, proud of it and proud of his family.  JJ is a fireman, and he and his wife Colleen are trying to get pregnant. Meghan is a ballerina, the pride of Charlestown. Katie teaches yoga, and dreams of having her own studio. Patrick is still finding his way, but they have faith. Rosie is Joe's heart, and she's every Irish Catholic mother I've ever known. Everyone still gets together for Sunday dinners, no exceptions.

When Joe's symptoms begin, he thinks he's aggravated an old knee injury or is overly tired. He has no reason to believe he has a fatal and progressive illness. His mother died young, but she had been institutionalized for years because of her drinking. Or so Joe was told.

Joe's diagnosis is devastating. It means he can't be cop, can't take care of Rosie like he had planned. Everything he is, all that defines him, is taken away by Huntington's. And the devastation continues as they realize that the children may have this gene and develop the disease.

Welcome to Louisiana!

Erica Spindler's newest release (February 2015) is set in my neck of the woods. I confess, that's why I read it. Romantic suspense isn't really my genre. Having said that, this is the second 'sweep me off my feet and kill me' book I've read this past month. At least I have something to compare it to now.

Bailey Browne is in the Caribbean recovering from her mother's death when she meets Logan Abbott, the man of her dreams. In just a few days, they're married and she's traveling to his southeast Louisiana horse farm to meet friends and family. What little of them are left. 

Tragedy has made itself at home on the Abbott farm. The most recent loss is the mysterious disappearance of Logan's first wife True. And True isn't the only woman in the small village of Wholesome to vanish. (Spindler changed the name of a local village named Folsom to Wholesome. This bugged me throughout the entire novel).

Once I got past the whirlwind romance and got into the mystery, I liked it. A little predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. The characters were well developed, the pacing was great, I found Bailey's reactions consistent throughout, and none of the plot was implausible. Except the insta-love, but I expected that. I do wish she had set the novel in warmer weather. I'd love to see Bailey at her first crawfish boil.

I give it 3.5 stars, which is an exceptional rating for a romantic suspense from me. I imagine fans of the genre would rate it much higher. I'm definitely recommending it to my sister, who used to live down here too. She'll get a big kick out of reading the name of our hometown in the book.

I appreciate Spindler's writing style. I'm putting two of her novels on my immediate TBR pile: Bone Cold and See Jane Die. Is it possible I'm becoming a Romantic Suspense fan? Maybe I just needed to read the right author!

Thomas De Quincey is Back!

4 of 5 stars

I'm always excited when some of my favorite things are brought together: Victorian London, murder and conspiracy, Scotland Yard, sexy red-headed Irishmen, and women pushing societal boundaries. Granted, all these things were in the first Thomas De Quincey book and the mystery was better, but this one is still a strong 4 stars. 

We first met Thomas De Quincey, aka The Opium-Eater, in Murder as a Fine Art. The series is based on the life of an actual person. Fictional elements are blended with real-life events and people for the highest level of authenticity. I'm not a scholar of the era, but I've been knocked right out of the story in novels where fact and fiction clash. This never happens in this series. 

Just as they're leaving London, opium addict De Quincey and his daughter/caretaker Emily are drawn into yet another series of murders setting London and the Yard on their ears. It's important to note that De Quincey is not an ersatz Sherlock Holmes and Emily his Watson.  Although Holmes and De Quincey both see the world from a perspective most of us never attain, they are standing across from one another rather than side by side.

I'm giving very limited plot details: the murder victims are aristocrats, and there are hints at a conspiracy that may place Queen Victoria in danger. 

Although second in a series, there's no reason this book can't be read as a standalone.  Any required character history is given by the author in the forward. 

I highly recommend!

Another Great Adventure in History from Eric Larson

Dead Wake is as thrilling as any novel.

This past Christmas week I watched an amazing documentary series called Apocalypse:WWI and realized that I know so much less about the first world war than I do the second. And it's just as interesting! I've been reading bits and pieces since then, and put my name on the waiting list for Erik Larson's account of the sinking of the Lusitania.The 100th anniversary is approaching and it seems an appropriate time to read about it.

Dead Wake takes the events we've read about or watched in documentaries and puts them into a smoothly flowing narrative that  starts in New York City and ends off the coast of Ireland. It includes the American presidency, British code breakers of Room 40, German politics, u-boats, zeppelins, Ypres, the British Admiralty...I could go on and on. It's a lot of information, but Larson tells a logical story and all of the pieces fall into their proper places with ease.

The Lusitania pulling into New York Harbor

Passengers of the Lusitania are no longer an anonymous group. Rich details drawn from the letters and diaries of the dead and first person accounts from the survivors create a vivid picture of the voyage, surprisingly upbeat. Despite a published warning that vessels in British waters will be attacked, the passengers seem hearbreakingly unaware of their true danger.

New Teen Horror Release

5 stars

In Daryl Gregory's We Are All Completely Fine, we met Harrison Harrison, a man touched by The Other. It was dark and left me hungry for more Harrison.   In Harrison Squared,  we meet Harrison Harrison the boy. Definitely Lovecraftian in setting and style, but not an adult novel. I would classify it as preteen. Very high quality preteen, and I enjoyed reading it.

Harrison's horror begins when his mother, a research scientist, takes him to Dunnsmouth for a project.  I keep wanting to write Innsmouth or Dunwich, which is to say this town is as insane as anything Lovecraft dreamed up. Everything about this place is creepy. Harrison's new school, his new classmates, the police, the fishermen, are all seriously weird. There's a secret under life that Harrison can't stop poking.

When his mother's boat doesn't return from her second day out, Aunt Sel swoops in to take care of Harrison until he gives up looking for his mother. In any other tale, Aunt Sel would be the crazy one. Here, she's the closest thing to normal Harrison's got.

Harrison's search for his mom is exciting and scary, but again, entirely appropriate for the young reader. There's never a lull in the adventure. It's classic Lovecraft, with ancient evil creatures from beyond the veil, caves and underwater rescues,  everything happening at night. Harrison has to rely on his own wits, and help eventually comes from strange places. Twelve year old me would have read this book over and over again, and pushed it on my friends.

I'm still hungry for more of the grown up Harrison Harrison, though.  (Hint, hint Gregory).

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Disappointing New Release from Anne Perry

2 of 5 stars

My reading history with Anne Perry is limited to the first five William Monk books and the first book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series, so I had no experience with her recent output prior to reading this novel. I love the books I've read previously. Unfortunately, this novel does not meet my expectations from her.

The premise is an interesting one. A prominent young British woman starts life anew in Spain after rejecting an advantageous marriage proposal. After marrying a Spaniard, she experiences a religious transformation and picks up a group of followers. A decade later, 'Saint Sofia' has come to London under serious threat, ostensibly to bring her new religion to the British masses.

Harlan Coben's latest stand alone is a winner!

4 of 5 stars

Adam Price has a great life in suburban new Jersey. Beautiful wife Corinne and two active boys, lovely house, involved in his community. Then The Stranger approaches, and in a few short words he rips Adam's life into pieces. 
    
The Stranger is an excellent stand alone psychological thriller. Not only was it interesting and suspenseful, but it prompted me to examine the nature of secrets. Are they dangerous in and of themselves, or is the danger in the lengths we go to in order to keep them? Is the fallout after they're revealed the greatest danger of all?


There are multiple  twists and turns, expected and unexpected. Some plot points require a bit more suspension of disbelief than others, but are not so implausible that tension is broken. I was kept guessing about multiple things until nearly the end, and even then I wasn't sure exactly how it would play out. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

London like you've never seen it....

5 stars

I admit it, I am wowed by this book. It has so much of what I love, nothing that I don't, and it's put together amazingly well. This is a must-go-get-now kind of book. Science Fiction. Fantasy. Mythology. Conspiracies.

Our story begins after the death of Eiliff and Aedric Tenning. They leave three children behind in the care of Aedric's sister Arianne. Twins Eluned and Eleri Tenning are sixteen, younger brother Griff thirteen. All four believe the couple was murdered and an automaton, a secret commission, stolen. Arianne has to support the children financially and emotionally, which means helping them find out why their parents were killed. One of the few clues left behind leads her to Sheerside, the home of a powerful vampire. She plans to enter his service, no small commitment, in order to investigate and secure a place for her charges. It doesn't go at all as she planned.

March 24 release date - Servants of Fate#2

3.5 Stars

Sarah Fine follows up her strong first entry in the Servants of Fate series, Marked, with Claimed. For a discussion of the Servants of Fate mythology, see my review of Marked .

Marked created a post-apocalyptic world of fantasy and science, and brought together Cacy Ferry and Eli Margolis. Claimed brings together their siblings - Galina Margolis and Declan Ferry.

Although Galina is being protected by the Kere, she watches helplessly as people around her die in an attempt to stop her research. Declan Ferry has admired her from a distance as the relationship between the Ferry and Margolis families grew, and now he must step in to protect her.

Review: The Chessmen

The Chessmen by Peter May

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The Chessmen is the third novel in the Lewis Trilogy, and I strongly advise reading the books in order. This is especially important in this trilogy because the books are at least equal parts back stories and front stories and really really back stories and central mystery. Some of the importance of what is revealed about MC Fin Macleod (and others)just won't carry the same weight if you don't know the history.

If you've read the first two, you already know that there's never just one crime or mystery. And on the Isle of Lewis, everyone is connected to everyone else in some way. Peter May doesn't tell a linear story here. He starts with the discovery of a murder, rewinds to a couple of days earlier, then puts in an entirely new tape to tell the high school/uni stories.

I don't normally have a difficult time with all the time jumping, but I already struggle with the Gaelic words. There is a pronunciation guide in the back of the book, but I'm on my third book now and I can only remember that 'Dubh' is pronounced 'Doo'. I have to look up any words that I can't pronounce or don't know. Always have. So that slows me down a bit and makes keeping track of the two present/near-present timelines more difficult.

May's mysteries have a lot of parts and pieces but aren't difficult to figure out. The complexity of his characters and relationships is what draws me to his books. Although I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two, that may be due to my own deficits and not the novel's.



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Review: A Fine Summer's Day

A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Somewhere in this house there's a copy of A Long Shadow, the 8th Inspector Ian Rutledge novel, 1/3 finished but probably missing its bookmark. I took a detour into Scotland, and I've since been reading a lot of Tartan Noir. It's great to be back in London, though, and being a little behind in the series is perfectly fine as A Fine Summer's Day is a prequel.

I've had a lot of questions about pre-war Rutledge, mostly centered around Jean. Did he believe she truly loved him? Did she love him? Did he only think he loved her, and the pain of the betrayal is worse than the loss of her companionship? I don't wonder how he could love a woman so shallow, as Ian seems to fall for women easily. As naturally suspicious as he is of everyone, he's entirely too trusting of attractive women.

I won't reveal any details about Ian and Jean and their engagement. The book is predominantly a mystery, a very good one, and the moments spent on Ian's personal life are precious. So too, are the appearances of friends whose names you'll recognize. Some will die in the war, but in this novel they're all untouched by grief and loss with the exception of Ian and Frances. Their parents' deaths are relatively recent, and the pain of it is still sharp.

This book is for those die-hard Rutledge fans as well as historical mystery fans entirely unfamiliar with this series and its characters.  Rutledge's last mystery before he leaves for the war takes him all over England, and 30 years into the past. It's a fascinating parallel to what this novel is accomplishing by taking us back into Ian's past, though it leaves it for us to see the impact of those pre-war relationships on the post-war detective.

Highly recommend for followers of the series and newcomers alike, but it will be more appreciated by those with a connection to Ian Rutledge already.



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